Danny Boy in the making

Ben now has two weapons in his footballing armoury - the kick and the header.

He's been belting his soft, 1980s-style, black-and-white ball around the living room for weeks now, making contact more often than not and getting it to go, well, fairly straight.

He's definitely a dominant right-footer, no doubt.

That's a shame, as the reason why England can't get past the quarter finals of a major footballing tournament at the moment is because of a lack of decent lefties, and Northern Ireland just need more decent players full stop.

So I thought I'd throw a new skill into the mix tonight - heading.

I grabbed the ball and gave Ben a brief tutorial before asking him to copy me. He did. Perfectly. And every time thereafter.

I should say, though, a Ben header is more like a foul throw.

The ball rests on the head, held by both hands. The body then tilts forward in a bowing motion before the ball is released from the hands and rolls off the head hitting the ground below.

I called Mummy in to give her the good news. Ben was then giving out kicks and headers on demand. Mummy joined in too.

I'll have to buy him one of those cheapy, plastic, 'fly-away' balls soon to muck around with in the park. He'll love that.

But there's only one shirt I'll be throwing on Ben.

No, not the red of those pathetic Merseysiders, but the green & white of Northern Ireland. Our Wee Boy could be running out for Our Wee Country one day.

Well, maybe.

***PS. If you want to see the wall mural pictured above in all its glory, double-click on it.